Call The Doctor are a “jerky, girly post-punk” (NME) four-piece indie pop band based in Bristol. Formed over a mutual love of danceable but dirty guitar sounds, their new single ‘Take It Out’ exercises just that. The band of troublemakers are state of “emergency doctor” lead vocalist Patti Aberhart, British bred “animal doctor” Robert Hallworth on riffs, hairy “witchdoctor” Chris Davis on basslines and the handsome next “Doctor Who” John Raftery on beat duties. Despite having a real animal doctor in the band, the group are named after Sleater-Kinney and their seminal Call the Doctor album.

Their captivating 23 year old kiwi front woman Patti Aberhart, moved from New Zealand in 2009 and a year later they released their debut mini-album CTD, produced by Paul Tipler (Idlewild/Elastica/Forward Russia) to widespread acclaim. The hardworking band have completed two UK tours, supported acts such as Band Of Skulls, Shonen Knife, MEN and are about to embark on a Spring 2011 UK & European tour in support of their ‘Take It Out’ single release on independent record label Glasstone Records.

the girls are called up the music doctors and this is what they had to say…

the girls are: Your lead singer Patti Aberhart is originally from New Zealand: how did the band recruit her?
Robert: Patti moved here a few years ago after her mum passed away far too early, and she came to Bristol to live with her dad. I first met her at 3am one night while she was serenading a stray cat (she loves stray cats) with her own version of a Fleetwood Mac classic. I recognised the cat had rabies so proceeded to save Patti from a certain and painful death. But to be honest it was more out of self-preservation – can you imagine anything worse than a rabid kiwi singing Fleetwood Mac? Over a shared mug of Ovaltine we hatched plans to form a Kills/PJ Harvey/Yeah Yeah Yeah‘s type band with a punk, danceable edge. We wanted the other band members to be girls, so we were pleased as punch when John applied to join after we posted a notice outside the local pub. Gumtree might also have been involved. Seriously, we met Chris as a result of an introduction from a Planet Sound penfriend I used to exchange John Peel-inspired mixtapes of bands like Sleater-Kinney and Seafood with in the late ’90s. Thanks Jen!

tga: Your single ‘Take It Out’ is being released on 21 March and has received early XFM radio support.What is the song about?
Patti: The meaning of the song is far from complex, I wanted the story to be one which everyone could relate too. In short, it points towards both love and grief – that main person in your life is as good for you as he or she is poison… Yet you stick by them. “You take it out of me” refers to the frustration of that person draining all your energy and willpower whilst you’re trying to help or show them your feelings towards a situation but they’re not buying it.

For the video, the atmosphere was really chilled and the director Daniel Peters was especially warm and welcoming, so the whole experience was a positive one and I can’t wait to shoot another! Some of the boys weren’t over the moon with being in front of the camera but luckily for them it turned out to be mostly torso and armshots as opposed to full on up-close and personal.

tga: You’re about to embark on a Spring 2011 tour – what is your favourite gig to date? Any great on-the-road stories?
Chris: Played a few really fun shows at London venues like Camden Barfly, but my favourite show was probably supporting insane band Monotonix who ended up playing the end of their gig in the streets of Bristol, stage diving off a letter box. Memorable road story would probably be playing an awful show in Leicester with awful bands then meeting a hilarious character with massive blonde 80′s hair who claimed to have been thrown out of a ‘guns n roses’ tribute band for being too mental and who then tried to get us to put a gig on in Bristol to help to reunite him with his long lost son who now lives there after abandoning him.

tga: Paul Tipler produced your Call The Doctor mini album (which led to you being 6 Music Steve Lamacq’s unsigned band of the week). What was he like to work with?
Robert: He’s a legend which was a bit intimidating at first and he’s not afraid to speak his mind when he doesn’t like something, but he’s really good at what he does, and comes highly recommended.

tga: What would be a perfect day out for Call The Doctor?
Patti: The perfect CTD day would commence with us all rising together in a king size bed with pure silk sheets, gazing into each other’s eyes along with light hearted tickles then later heading out to our large tour van (presently a tin car), complete with personal driver, alcohol on tap and Karen O dancing on the roof blazing out ‘Y Control’ on our way to support the Pixies and The Strokes at Earls Court and then ending the night civilized, with a game of chess and debates about politics and knitwear.

tga: Who are your favourite past and present music doctors?
Chris: Dr Dre and Dr Fox are the only musical doctors we know. But if you just mean artists past and present who have healed the soul I would say Megadeth and Megadeth.

tga: You’ve had comparisons to Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Blondie, how does that sit with you guys?
Patti: Obviously it’s a massive honour to be compared to such strong female front women such as Karen O and Debbie Harry. I think we feed off live permormance much like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Blondie – they both have that stage presence which sucks you right into the moment, which is what we are working on, to catch that same charisma.

tga: What are you listening to on your iPod at the moment?
Patti: Kate Bush The Kick Inside, PJ Harvey Let England Shake, and Neil Young Crazy Horse.
Robert: I don’t have an iPod but on my turntable of late have been Male Bonding, Husker Du and The Lovely Eggs. But for new bands check out the bronze medal and Pris.
John: iPod shuffle brings up Against Me.

tga: What three things would you take a desert island?
John: Errrrrrrrrr, rudimentary tools, fresh water and a bow and arrow.
Patti: A sand-friendly cow to produce milk, an acoustic guitar to write our next single/album, and a gold sequin playsuit to impress.
Robert: Catcher in the Rye, Call The Doctor by Sleater-Kinney and lots of eggs. I couldn’t live without eggs.

tga: What’s next for Call The Doctor?
Robert: Hopefully we’ll put out a couple of EP’s before doing our first album proper at the end of the year. But more generally we want to make lots of new friends and enemies playing tonnes of raucous live shows. I don’t care whether people love or hate us as long as they don’t feel apathy. That’s what the vast majority of current indie music inspires in me. Hopefully Patti can also inspire a few more girls to form bands and get up on stage ‘cos guitar music is still so biased towards men. I mean, Bikini Kill and riot grrl really helped in the 90′s, but still if you go to the average gig 90% plus of the band members will be skinny indie boys and it’s about as big a disparity between the sexes as you will find in any art-form. It’s weird when the audience seems to be much closer to 50-50 guys and girls. There’s loads of big female pop and rock stars, but maybe more role models on a grassroots level like Patti are needed.

 

Hear hear! Catch Call The Doctor at Buffalo Bar in Highbury on 1 March.

‘Take It Out’ is released on 21 March.  Get your free download of ‘For Your Leisure’ here.

 

Clare Tucker